Today's network service providers face extraordinary challenges. Traffic levels are rapidly increasing. Both consumers and corporations are demanding higher access rates and staying on the Internet longer while looking for predictable performance and stringent service-level guarantees. This puts direct demands on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to provide larger capacity and higher speed at their point of presence (POP) locations, preferably without compromising performance.
Just to maintain acceptable performance, service providers are adding support for more users, more traffic, and more transactions, preferably without introducing bottlenecks or compromising network availability. Many network-based business transactions are time-critical and typically cannot tolerate undue delay or disruption.
In an effort to meet some of the challenges, some ISPs turn to access concentrators and high-end routers to handle the high density traffic. However, the problem with traditional access concentrators and high-end routers is that they are designed with a central CPU for centralized processing. All data is passed through a centralized route forwarder/processor which increases processing overhead, causes bottlenecks, inhibits scalablility, and provides a single point of failure. Essentially, the central processor cannot effectively process the increased amount of data traffic when new modules are added. As more modules are added system performance hits a wall.
In addition to the challenge of growing traffic levels is the challenge of growing diversity of network technology. Users may access the public infrastructure, for example, over dial-up connections, ISDN links, leased lines, frame relays, ATM virtual circuits. They may use voice-grade modems, cable modems, a variety of xDSL modems, or other modems. Within the infrastructure, a service provider's POP may attach to the core network and to other devices in the POP using, for example, ATM, frame relay, or Ethernet.
Supporting each type of network technology in a traditional manner means that the ISPs typically add separate access servers, access routers, and/or stand alone LAN switches, generally resulting in an increase in cost and management complexities for the ISP.
Accordingly, there is a need for a network switch capable of providing fault-tolerant and efficient services that will accommodate the increase in the number and the variety of network traffic. Such a switch should preferably allow ISPs to provide value added-services, allowing them to differentiate themselves from the competition, taking them into new markets, and boosting revenue from existing customers.